Zarnow: Tending to his blooming pride and joy

April 26, 2013

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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Dahlias, left, roses and Foxgloves surround the stone path leading to a fountain at the Laguna Hills home of James Vaughn. He has thrown many fundraiser throughout the years. On May 11 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., it will be featured at the Elegant and Enchanting Garden Tour offered by the Rose Society of Saddleback Mountain. CINDY YAMANAKA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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This Chris Evert Rose was named after the tennis legend. This Laguna Hills garden also has yellow Gina Lollobrigida Roses named after the actress. CINDY YAMANAKA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Homeowner James Vaughn deadheads roses. His Nellie Gail garden will be featured on the Elegant and Enchanting Garden Tour offered by the Rose Society of Saddleback Mountain May 11 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. CINDY YAMANAKA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Homeowner James Vaughn deadheads roses. His Nellie Gail garden will be featured on the Elegant and Enchanting Garden Tour offered by the Rose Society of Saddleback Mountain May 11 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. CINDY YAMANAKA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Dahlias, left, roses and Foxgloves surround the stone path leading to a fountain at the Laguna Hills home of James Vaughn. He has thrown many fundraiser throughout the years. On May 11 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., it will be featured at the Elegant and Enchanting Garden Tour offered by the Rose Society of Saddleback Mountain. CINDY YAMANAKA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

An Elegant and Enchanting Garden Tour

Sponsor: The Rose Society of Saddleback Mountain

What: A self-guided tour of five private gardens to raise money for horticulture student scholarships

Your eyes take in the beauty of the gardens surrounding the home of James Vaughn, but the scent of roses makes them intoxicating.

These gardens neither intimidate nor overwhelm. Artfully they embrace the corner lot in intimate groupings, the way guests cluster comfortably and casually at a party. No Versailles here.

Gardens extend down the walkway, up the slopes and around the backyard pool in a casual embrace. It's easy to see why The Rose Society of Saddleback Mountain included this house on its annual spring garden tour.

Still, if you don't garden seriously, you might wonder about those who do.

You might wonder about Vaughn, who will spend four or five hours on a weekend deadheading his roses. His Laguna Hills home has about 300 rose bushes on a half-acre.

"I love the challenge of roses. They constantly need attention and work."

Exactly the point. You might wonder when it is that a few bushes become hundreds and a hobby crosses the line into obsession.

Apparently, it has something to do with tearing out the lawn.

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When Vaughn moved into his house seven years ago, about two dozen rose plants lined the front walkway in a narrow path. Not nearly enough.

He was first introduced to roses in his grandmother's garden, and later grew to love them himself.

In particular, he's fond of their perfume.

"It's about the fourth dimension ... to experience the sense of smell."

Roses, apparently, have something in common with store-bought tomatoes. When they are bred to be most hearty, tomatoes lose their taste and roses lose their scent.

Vaughn's favorite roses are harder to grow, but they smell heavenly.

Unfortunately for me, Vaughn went on a rampage in preparation for the garden tour – cutting off most of the blooms. A sacrifice now in hopes that next month will be spectacular.

"It was a rose massacre."

It's not until later, when we go inside, that the perfume from masses of roses colors the air with scent.

First we stroll the gardens.

Vaughn, a government affairs consultant who works from home, treats it casually. He says he merely keeps his eye out for interesting things.

"Then you just put them in the right setting."

His gardens combine roses with succulents in a color palette of greens, wine, copper and orange that complements the décor inside the house.

There are many subtle details, and I breeze right past most of them.

Tactfully Deanna Flintzer, a past president of The Rose Society, slows me so I can appreciate the little touches and, so to speak, smell the roses.

She points to variegated foliage, to yellow grass that contrasts with purple foxglove, every bit as interesting as roses. She points to a pot:

"This could have been a pot jammed with plants in an ordinary group, but this arrangement makes it extraordinary."

Flintzer notes the perfect placements: the mirror inside the pergola (or bower) that reflects the garden, the fountains as focal points, and succulents as a counterpoint to roses.

She helps select gardens for the club's annual tour, and rejects some from curbside.

Hundreds attend The Rose Society's annual tour of private gardens. The self-guided tours have raised more than $25,000 for scholarships for local students studying horticulture or plant science.

The interesting spots in Vaughn's garden, Flintzer notes, are never-ending. It allows you to put yourself into the space.

"Even if yours is a small garden, these containers give you ideas. You can look and be encouraged – and think: I could do part of that."

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Actually, I'm not sure I can.

If you have the kind of garden where flowers die of embarrassment, you will understand.

So it's reassuring that even experts use "rose coaches" or "rosarians."

Back in January, Vaughn consulted a coach to step up his game for the upcoming tour. He compares it to a personal trainer: "Just to push me a little bit more."

Vaughn and Flintzer speak the same language. They admire the shade of green in the leaves on a rose bush, the density of the petals.

They sound like doting parents. In fact, growing roses sounds like parenting: Unconditional support with abundant food and water balanced against tough love and aggressive pruning. Same goal: to encourage healthy growth.

You control nature; it doesn't control you. Here, well, that's open to debate.

"Most people would say I am way over the line into obsession," Vaughn admits, but notes that he still takes vacations and has a busy life.

Still, if the lawn is the merit badge of suburban success, rose aficionados will never make Eagle Scout.

Flintzer calls it Disappearing Lawn Syndrome.

She has 500 rose bushes of her own and reads rose catalogs the way my husband wishes I would read romance novels: to give herself new ideas.

Flintzer diagnoses herself as a "rose nut." About 14 years ago she ordered three iceberg rose plants, but wasn't satisfied with the color. She ordered more.

"I couldn't get enough of them."

Pretty soon, she had removed the lawn to make room for roses.

Vaughn has removed as much as two-thirds of his grass to make room for his garden.

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